


all of those better days

by pyrophane



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: F/F, Future Fic, Mentorship, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-08 01:34:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8824924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrophane/pseuds/pyrophane
Summary: Someday soon Yuzu’s going to figure out how to beat her, and Serena will have helped her get to that point. It’s an odd thing to realise. Odder yet how comfortable the thought is. There aren’t any stakes attached other than Serena’s own pride, which is still a pretty significant thing to wager, but it’s not resentment humming electric through her at the prospect, drawing her muscles live-wire taut the same way skirting close to a precipice or summoning her ace monster does—it’s anticipation.





	

**Author's Note:**

> written for [ygotp's](http://ygotp.tumblr.com/) Week 5 prompt 'future'. in this fic i blatantly ignore the direction canon is heading in, because my heart wanted serenadeshipping fusion mentorship/serena getting a chance to work through the shattering and reconstruction of her worldview in a situation that isn't so life-or-death. i love ray but i want my girls to have a happy endgame!!
> 
> title from 'Dream Shake' by Memoryhouse.

 

 

 

 

 

The action field dissipates around them in a fountain of light. Yuzu somersaults off a fading ledge to land neatly in front of Serena, duel disk folding back in on itself. “And another duel goes to you,” she sighs.

“You really had me on my toes near the end,” Serena says. She grins at Yuzu. “I was down to two hundred life points, but, hey, looks like it wasn’t quite enough to finish me off.”

Yuzu huffs. “Still! One of these days I’ll beat you, just you wait.”

“You’re welcome to keep trying.” Serena laughs, fiddling with her own duel disk. “Though honestly, I won’t be surprised if you do, you’re a great duellist and you’ve only gotten better since you started practising with me.”

“Thanks!” A glowing flush of exertion has started to bloom across Yuzu’s cheeks. It’s ridiculously endearing; she’s all brilliance and pyrotechnics and stagecraft in a duel, but it isn’t until afterwards that her body remembers its limits and starts to protest. One time after a particularly brutal duel Serena watched in disbelief as Yuzu chugged down an entire bottle of water before inhaling seven energy bars in the space of approximately two minutes. “Yuuya won’t know what hit him next time we duel. But it’s all thanks to you, really, I feel like I’ve improved so much with you teaching me!”

“Of course you have,” Serena says. “Hey, who taught you how to Fusion summon in the first place? You’ve got—” she catches herself before _Academia instincts_ leaves her mouth, swallows the phrase back, “—pretty good foundations.”

“Sora taught me,” Yuzu says. “After I lost a match against Masumi—she’s another Fusion user, she gave me Crystal Rose, remind me to introduce you two sometime—I kept bothering him until he agreed to teach me the basics. He—gave me my first Polymerisation card. When I first started out I used to forget all the time to put my Fusion monsters in my extra deck.”

“Well, that explains it,” Serena mutters.

“Hmm?”

“You don’t duel like a Standard person using Fusion,” Serena says. “You duel like—”

“An Academia student?”

Serena swallows. “Yeah.”

“Did you know Sora, when you were at Academia?”

“No,” Serena says, shortly. “We never met. We weren’t in the same class.”

“Oh, is that why—he wears blue, and you wear red?”

“In Academia, we got ranked depending on our skill. Weakest was red, then yellow, then blue for the strongest—Obelisk Force, the elite vanguard.”

“So Sora was Obelisk Force,” Yuzu says. “But you were… ”

Serena’s fingers still on her duel disk. “Yeah. Lowest class, because I wasn’t allowed to go on any missions even though I could’ve crushed any one of the kids in Obelisk Force easy as anything. All I ever wanted—” She swivels the duel disk shut and slides it off her wrist.

Yuzu steps closer, places a hand on Serena’s arm. “You’re still wearing red,” she says, gently.

“Habit, I guess.” Serena shrugs. “Anyway, let’s go through the duel. You got the upper hand towards the last quarter, where do you think you went wrong?”

Yuzu lights up. “Well, I had Fortissimo in my hand and I should’ve used it to boost Mozarta’s attack points when I destroyed Lunalight Blue Cat to deal you more damage, and then I forgot that you had two trap cards set, not just one, and then…” She proceeds to enthusiastically outline each error from the inconsequential to the one that cost her the duel.

“Wow,” Serena says, blinking, when Yuzu winds down and looks up at her expectantly. “I think you got it all in one, I’m lucky to have such a good student. Let’s pack up and talk strategy, then?”

“Okay! Let me go turn the Solid Vision system off first, I don’t think anyone else is scheduled to be using this one today.” Yuzu ducks into the control room, and there’s a low, shimmering rumble as the system powers down around Serena.

When Yuzu reappears, she hooks her arm under Serena’s, and like that they leave the arena and relocate to a spare classroom. “So where do you want to start?” Serena asks, as they sit down and take out their decks. All the data from the duel is easily accessible through any of the computers in the classroom, but the reconstruction's more fun when it's a memory test too.

“How about when I first summoned Bloom Diva? What would you have done from there?”

“Alright,” Serena says, and launches into an explanation of her own plan of attack. She’s spent a lot of time thinking about how to wring every last ounce of power out of Yuzu’s deck. Someday soon Yuzu’s going to figure out how to beat her, and Serena will have helped her get to that point. It’s an odd thing to realise. Odder yet how comfortable the thought is. There aren’t any stakes attached, other than Serena’s own pride, which is still a pretty significant thing to wager, but it’s not resentment humming electric through her at the prospect, drawing her muscles live-wire taut the same way skirting close to a precipice or summoning her ace monster does—it’s anticipation.

“—and that’ll make sure Bloom Prima is as powerful as possible when you Fusion summon her—” Serena breaks off. Yuzu’s expression is distant, troubled; it’s not like her to be distracted during their customary post-duel discussion. She frowns. “Hey,” Serena says, curling a hand around the back of Yuzu’s neck like she’s seen Shun do to Ruri. “What’s on your mind?”

Yuzu starts. Her mouth pulls downwards. “Sorry, I should’ve been paying attention! It’s nothing,” she says. “It’s kind of stupid, really. Just—you know, back when Yuuto thought I was Ruri, he told me not to use Fusion summoning. That it didn’t suit me. I mean, obviously I didn’t listen to him, and once he figured I wasn’t Ruri and I just wanted to protect my school… I’m just thinking—I didn’t know I was going to stumble into an interdimensional war when I wanted to start learning Fusion, I only wanted to get stronger. But I guess I never really had a choice. We were always going to get caught up in it.”

Serena remembers her room in Academia, sitting on her bed in the hated red jacket and clutching Lunalight Cat Dancer while her classmates worked towards uniting the rogue dimensions, seeing the Professor’s honour through. The seething force of her anger so violent, so explosive she could feel it straining just beneath her skin like a living thing, and surely her body would burst apart at the seams if she couldn’t do something, anything to prove she was good enough. She’d run endless duel simulations until she was certain she could outclass even Shiunin Sora, Academia’s so-called ace, if only the Professor would let her try, but he never did. What was she lacking? What did Obelisk Force possess that she didn’t?

All of that had crumbled away very fast. She was always going to get caught up in it. Still, she sometimes finds herself wishing for that unshakeable belief in the hallways she walks again, the knowledge that she’s doing the right thing. Academia had turned out to be a malignant thing, a hollow promise, but at the time it had been everything she’d ever known. Serena’s a tactician. She thinks in terms of the present, the desirable near future, the steps she needs to take to bridge the two. She doesn’t dwell. She doesn’t know how to reconcile the truth with the girl alone in her room and filled to the brim with surety of purpose and nowhere to direct it.  

What she does know is that it’s Yuzu who tore down the foundations of her old self, who offered her own life in exchange for Serena’s without blinking minutes into their first meeting. And that’s what Serena sees now when she thinks about Fusion: Yuzu with Bloom Diva, eyes alight, indestructible in battle. Looking at Serena with steady, absolute faith. Challenging Serena to acknowledge her history, and let it go.

“Well,” Serena says, touching the face that is both like and unlike her own. The war is over. She’s still wearing red, after all. “If you ask me, I think Fusion suits you just fine.”

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> somehow throughout the course of a series entirely about duelling i managed to pick up absolutely nothing, so please let me know if i've made a mistake re duel mechanics and i'll fix it!
> 
> tumblr post of this fic is [here](http://delineative.tumblr.com/post/155185764380/fic-all-of-those-better-days), if you're interested! kudos/comments greatly appreciated ❤️


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